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17. The Official Story
By mid-afternoon, Sodapop had managed to charm a few extra pillows out of a friendly nurse, and Darry had helped her sit up enough that she could take a drink and pick at the tray of food they brought her for lunch. She was still drowsy, but after she woke up around noon, she managed to keep her eyes open for a while. A nurse brought her a tray with a sandwich and a fruit cup for lunch and she gave most of it to Soda, but Darry insisted she take a few bites. When she couldn't eat much, he even offered to go get her a milkshake, so she could tell he really was worried.
"I figured Dally would have been in here yelling at me by now," Pony joked while Soda ate the second half of her sandwich, his feet propped up on her bed as he sat back in his chair. When the nurse had brought her lunch, she'd also checked her dressing, something both of her brothers had stepped out for, and had checked all of the machines by her bed, assuring her that she was doing fine and that she'd hopefully be able to go home soon, although she'd be on strict bed rest. When her brothers had returned, Soda had dropped into a chair instead of sitting on the bed beside her again.
"He's been real worried about you," Soda told her around a mouthful of sandwich, ignoring the disgusted look Darry gave him. "All of the guys have. Susie too. They won't let anyone but family come see you right now, but they're all ready to break in. Two-Bit was trying to figure out how to climb in through the window before Darry told him he'd better not do anything to get us kicked out."
She snorted. That sounded like Keith alright.
"You sure scared him, kiddo. He's been worried sick about you. Susie keeps asking when she can visit. She's been getting all your homework."
"But you don't need to worry about homework just yet, Pone," Darry put in firmly. "Your teachers already know to give you extensions on everything."
Finally, she asked the question she'd been holding back since Darry had first brought it up, back when she'd woken up the first time. "When do I have to talk to the cops?"
Her brothers exchanged a look. "I was supposed to call them when you woke up," Darry told her. "I'll probably call tomorrow. Is that alright?"
She nodded, not meeting his eyes.
"You ain't gotta worry about them, kiddo. Just keep telling them the same story you've told everyone else. There's no evidence that anything else happened," Soda told her softly, patting her shoulder.
Pony was in and out during the rest of the day, falling asleep for an hour or so at a time, but every time she woke up, her brothers were there, the TV on softly in the background. Sometimes they'd be talking, but she was usually too tired when she started to wake up to understand much of what they were saying. They'd always get quiet when she woke up, and Soda asked how she was feeling, Darry checking those machines at her side.
That evening around 5, when she'd been awake for almost half an hour, Darry started checking his watch, Soda glancing at the door every few minutes. Pony knew they had to go to that fight, and she wanted to tell them to just go on and leave, but she didn't want them to think that she wanted them gone. Actually, she wished they'd stay. She didn't want to be in that hospital room alone. But she wasn't about to act like a baby and say that out loud.
Finally, Darry ruffled her hair, smiling when she pried her eyes open and managed to look at him.
"You tired, kiddo?"
She nodded. "I shouldn't be…I've been sleeping all day."
"It's the pain medicine. The doctor said you'd probably be out of it today." He gave her a once over. "You feeling okay?"
Pony nodded again. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"They ought to bring you dinner soon. We'd better go ahead and head out. We're meeting the guys in an hour."
Part of Pony wanted to ask them not to go…to stay with her instead. But she knew they wanted their revenge, and if they won, things would be better for a little while before they got bad again, and then there would be another fight, because that's how things always went.
"Okay," she muttered, eyes closing again. "You go. I'll sit this one out."
They both laughed, and she smiled a little when Darry kissed the top of her head, just like Dad. She'd dreamed about their dad and Darry both…they really did look alike.
Soda did the same, tucking the blankets up around her. "We'll be back soon, kiddo."
She nodded, not opening her eyes. "Tell 'em I said hi."
Pony slept while they were gone, not dreaming or nothing…it was like she closed her eyes, and when she woke again, it was to Darry's voice, like he'd never left. It took her a moment to realize she'd even fallen asleep.
"She's still asleep? She hadn't really eaten anything today."
"Yes, that's normal. We have a tray ready for her when she wakes up if she's hungry, but with the pain medicine she's on, she might not have much of an appetite. That should come back once we wean her off the pain medicine. She has a little bit of a fever but we aren't too worried. That's also normal."
"Do you know when we can bring her home?"
"I would say Monday at the earliest. The doctor wants to make sure there's no infection, and that she is able to walk a little before he releases her. She'll most likely need someone to stay with her for the first few days."
"That's no problem," she heard Darry say, although she had to disagree. Considering both her brothers worked full time, it sounded like a problem.
"We're going to move her to a general room tonight, so she'll be able to have visitors tomorrow during normal visiting hours. We can also put a cot in her room if one of you would like to stay the night."
"We'd really appreciate it. Thanks."
Pony dozed some more until she heard someone pull a chair close to her bed. She forced her eyes open then and found both of her brothers sitting beside her, looking a little worse for wear…Soda more than Darry. Their knuckles were wrapped up, and Soda had a bruise blooming on his cheek, but otherwise, they looked relatively okay considering they'd just been in a rumble.
"You haven't even moved since we left," Soda teased.
"Did too," she muttered, even though she had no idea if that was true.
"We brought you something." He took something from Darry, holding up a styrofoam cup. Coming out of the top of the lid, she could just see the bright red top of the cherry. "We had to smuggle it in."
She rubbed a hand over her eyes, taking the milkshake when he held it out to her. "Thanks," she mumbled, trying to wake up. "I don't like this medicine."
"Yeah? Trust me, kiddo. You want the medicine for as long as you can get it," Darry told her, pulling the blankets up around her. Any other time, she'd have teased him for fussing like Mom, but she was just glad they were getting along.
"Did you guys win?"
"Yeah. We beat those socs good." Soda grinned, proud.
"All except Randy. He wasn't there," Darry told her. He ran a finger over his split lip. "Apparently he didn't want nothing to do with it."
"He'll have something to do with it when I find him," Soda grumbled. From Darry's expression, she could tell he agreed.
"Randy told him to stop," Pony told them, trying to remember exactly what everyone had said. That would be important when the cops came and questioned her. "He said Allen ought to let me and Susie leave."
"Then I won't beat him up too bad." Soda took the milkshake from her when she was too tired to keep holding it, putting it on the side table. "I haven't forgotten how he was holding you down when they jumped you."
Pony thought about telling him that Randy had also been the one to tell Allen that he'd thought they were just going to scare her, and that he hadn't wanted to hurt her or anything, but she didn't really care if her brothers fought with Randy. He hadn't exactly stopped Allen, and Soda was right…he had helped Allen jump her. So he deserved to get roughed up, as far as she was concerned, as long as her brothers didn't get in trouble. She wondered what the doctors and nurses thought about her brothers now…they were already greasers, and they'd obviously been in a fight…but that nurse they'd been talking to had seemed nice enough.
It wasn't too much longer before the nurse moved her into a different room, sending both of her brothers to the waiting room while she helped her get cleaned up and unhooked a couple of the machines, even removing the tube blowing air in her nose. Once she was settled into the new room in another part of the hospital that apparently meant people could come visit her now, they both returned, Darry letting her know that he was heading home. "I'll be back in the morning, alright? Unless you want me to stay?"
She shook her head. He deserved some sleep. "Go home. Sleep. Maybe take a shower."
He snorted when she wrinkled her nose, punching her gently in the shoulder. "Love you, kiddo. See you in the morning."
"See you."
Darry messed up Soda's hair as he passed, dodging and chuckling to himself when he went to smack him away.
"He's in a good mood."
"Yeah. Our little sister being alive will do that." Soda handed her the milkshake, letting her take a drink. "How are you feeling?"
"Still tired. Hot."
"The nurse said that was normal. She said they could bring you some dinner if you want to eat. You hungry?"
She shook her head. "You can go home too if you want. It's boring here."
"I'm fine, kiddo. Darry's going to bring you some clothes and he'll probably bring you a couple of books too."
"And my homework?"
"Doubt it. He's pretty serious about you just focusing on getting better."
"Darry? Not worrying about my homework? Did he get hit in the head in that rumble?"
Soda chuckled, turning the TV on and laying down on the bed beside her, careful not to jar her too much. It hurt, but she wasn't about to complain or ask him to move to that cot. She was just glad he'd stayed. Resting her head on his shoulder, she fought to keep her eyes open as he flipped through the channels. "Darry's really worried about you. I could barely get him to go home the last few days. He wanted to sleep here in these chairs. I told him it was going to hurt his back…but I didn't want to leave either."
"I'm okay now, though."
"He's gonna keep being worried until we can take you home. Probably longer." He nudged her shoulder. "Just go easy on us for a while, huh? Please?"
She couldn't exactly say that she always went easy on them when she was laying in a hospital bed after being shot, so she just nodded. "I will."
"Good. I'm gonna stay home with you when they let you leave."
"You don't have to do that."
"I know. But they can get along without me at the DX for a while, and this is my first chance at a vacation in a year." He grinned, nudging her gently and lowering his voice. "My boss feels sorry for me because my sister got hurt. Let me have this."
Laughing hurt, but she didn't mind. "Fine. As long as you promise not to fuss."
"I wouldn't dare."
Pony was hoping her first visitors might be Susie and Keith, or even Johnny. Or Dally. Steve, if she didn't get any other options. But after a long night of being constantly checked on by nurses who woke her up to ask if she was feeling any pain, she didn't wake to any of the guys, or Susie. Instead, she woke to her brothers' voices…and they both sounded mad.
"She's asleep."
"But she woke up yesterday."
"Yeah, but…she had a rough night, okay? Just…can't you come back?" Soda snapped. "She just got shot a few days ago!"
"What do you mean, she had a rough night?" Darry asked, quieter, and Pony wondered what time it was and if he'd just gotten there. The lights in her room were off and the curtains around the window were drawn tight so she couldn't tell.
"Those doctors kept waking her up and she couldn't sleep real well. I think she's hurting more."
That was true, but she didn't remember saying anything about it.
"Listen, son, we promise we won't stay too long. We just want to ask her a few questions about that night. She's not in trouble. Randy Adderson already confirmed that Allen Russell was bothering Miss Curtis at school, and that he and his friends attacked her on her way home a few days ago. He insists that he never thought Russell would go that far. We don't believe that Miss Curtis had anything to do with Bob Sheldon's death. We're just following up. As a formality."
"Well can't you follow up another time?" Soda demanded.
"Let us see if she's even awake," Darry interjected. "Okay?"
"Of course," one of them said.
The other was just as quiet. "We'll wait out here."
Pony watched both of her brothers slip into the room, shutting the door behind them, and immediately Darry moved over to her side, sitting in one of the chairs and putting the back of his hand against her forehead while Soda leaned against the door like he was worried they'd try and break it down.
"Hey, kiddo. You're kind of warm. How you feeling?"
"I'm okay. What's going on?"
Darry sighed, glancing at the door. "The cops are here. They want to talk to you."
He never was one to sugarcoat things, but she guessed she couldn't fault him for that. "Okay…right now?"
He sighed, then nodded. "Yeah. That's what they're saying. But we're going to be in here with you. Okay? We're not going anywhere." He grabbed the glass of water beside her bed and handed it to her, letting her take a long drink. When she was done, he put it back on the table, both of them watching her real close. "If you're not feeling up to it, I'll get a doctor to kick them out."
Pony didn't doubt him. If he wouldn't be arrested, she was pretty sure he would enjoy kicking them out himself. But they didn't need more trouble, and the fastest way to make all of this go away was to just talk to them and tell her story one last time. "No…it's fine. I'll talk to them."
He nodded, wrapping an arm around her and resting his chin on her head for a moment as he took a deep breath, like he was bracing himself. "Okay. Okay," he whispered, pulling away and looking down at her. "You can do this. Same story you've been telling this whole time, alright?"
"Yeah."
"Alright." He leaned down, kissing her hair. "It's gonna be alright."
Pony nodded. He was right. He had to be right.
Soda opened the door for the two cops, and Darry took a seat in the chair by her side, his hand resting on her arm. Soda pulled a chair up on her other side, leaning in close and all but glaring at the cops who walked quietly into the room, both of them smiling briefly when she met their eyes.
The taller one had hair almost as blond as Dally's, and she figured he was in charge because he came right up to her bed, not looking at either of her brothers who watched him like guard dogs. "Miss Curtis, I'm Officer Parker, and this is my partner, Officer Owens. We're sorry to bother you while you're not feeling well."
Soda snorted beside her, rolling his eyes.
"We just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the night you went to the drive-in."
"Okay." Her voice was weak and she knew she sounded scared, but she couldn't help it. Darry squeezed her arm, moving a little closer.
"Can you tell us about that night? Just the basics of what happened?"
She nodded. She could do this. She'd told this story a hundred times now. "Yeah. Um…I left my house and walked over to the diner. I got a milkshake and sat with a couple of girls from school." She named a few, glad there would be witnesses for that part at least. "Then I walked over to the drive-in and sat in the front. There were lots of girls from school there. I was walking back to get some popcorn and I saw Dally and Johnny talking to Cherry and Marcia, Bob and Randy's girlfriends."
"Miss Valence mentioned that Dallas Winston was harassing her and her friend."
Pony shrugged, wincing when it hurt. "Maybe. She was telling him to get lost. He saw me and didn't say anything else to her."
"And did Dallas say anything to you?"
"Yeah, he told me not to walk home alone. I told him I wanted to leave because I didn't like the movie." She hesitated. Cherry would have known that Dally didn't come with her right away, but she could always have misremembered how long he'd waited. "I said fine, and I went to get popcorn. After a minute, he came after me…I guess he didn't want me walking alone. He gave me his jacket because I forgot to wear one and I was cold. We got popcorn and drinks, and then we came back. It wasn't too much longer before people started yelling and saying someone killed a guy, and Cherry started crying. We left because we knew that if someone called my brothers and told them, they'd start to worry about me."
The second police officer who'd been standing back writing in his notepad glanced up at her. "So you're saying you didn't go to the bathrooms, and you didn't see Bob Sheldon that night?"
She shook her head. "No. I'm sorry…I didn't even know he was at the drive-in. All I knew was that his girlfriend was there."
"You didn't know Bob Sheldon before that night?"
She shook her head again. "I'd never talked to him or anything. I just knew who he was because people said he jumped kids and got in lots of fights."
The cop that hadn't said anything yet nodded slowly, writing that down. The blond one gave her a patient smile. "Alright, Miss Curtis. Just one more question. Are you sure that you didn't go to the bathrooms at any point? Because we spoke to a girl from your class who thought she saw you that night."
Pony's blood went cold, but she knew she just looked tired and sick, even when both of her brothers froze. She'd known that the girl she'd seen going into the bathroom could always turn up, but that didn't matter. No one had proof.
She'd always been a good liar.
"No. I was with Dally at the concessions. It was already dark out…maybe she saw another girl that looked like me or something." Pony dropped her eyes, letting her voice wobble a little. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I don't know why they think I know something. At the park, he had that gun pointed at Dally…I was scared." She closed her eyes, wishing she could muster up a tear…maybe if she poked herself in that bandage over her chest, but they'd notice that for sure. "I thought he was gonna kill Dally…so I just told him I did it. I was hoping he'd put the gun down…I didn't think…" Lips trembling, she looked up at them, hoping and praying that they thought she was small and scared and too innocent to ever do something like stab a boy in the back, even if it was in self-defense.
Even if she didn't regret it.
"I didn't think he'd shoot me."
She thought about how she'd felt in that park, and how scared she'd been. She thought about Darry next to her, begging her to stay with him. She thought about the dreams of her parents, and how Darry looked like their Dad, and she did manage to let a tear fall, dripping down her face when she blinked.
"Okay, Miss Curtis. Thank you for your time."
Darry stood when the cops did, resting his hand briefly on her shoulder. "I'll walk you out," he told them, and she had a feeling he just wanted to ask and make sure she wasn't in any trouble, but as soon as the door shut behind him, the three of the walking away from her room, she turned to Soda with a little smile, wiping her eyes.
"How was that?" she asked in a whisper, and he shook his head at her, grinning a little, but he still looked scared. "You think they bought it?"
"Yeah, honey. I think they bought it. Hell, I almost bought it." He glanced at the door. "You can't ever tell, okay. No one else can know."
"I won't," she promised. She didn't even want to think about it.
By the time Darry came back, she was already half asleep again. Soda had pulled the blankets up around her and had showed a lot of restraint by only asking if she was feeling okay twice. Darry shut the door behind him with a sigh, then sat back down in the chair he'd been using. She could practically feel his gaze on her, but she couldn't manage to open her eyes.
"Well?" Soda demanded.
"She ain't in trouble. They don't think she had anything to do with it. They said they'd keep asking around, but I don't think anyone knows anything." He huffed out a breath, sounding incredulous. "I think it's going to be alright." Before anyone could celebrate, Darry pressed the back of his hand to her forehead again. "Pone?"
"Hm?"
"You okay?"
She nodded.
"Lie to the fuzz, kiddo, but you ain't gotta lie to me."
Her eyes flew open at that, and she stared at him in surprise. He didn't sound mad or nothing. Just tired. Kind of sad.
"I can't help if you don't let me know something's wrong."
"I don't think you can help with this," she told him with a little smile. She could tell they didn't have her on as much pain medicine, and although she hated sleeping all day, Darry had been right. She already missed it.
"Try me. I still want to know."
"It just hurts," she told him, closing her eyes again.
"I think you've still got a little bit of a fever. I'm gonna get a doctor, okay?"
She nodded, and Soda moved closer, brushing his hand through her hair. By the time Darry returned again, this time with a nurse in tow, he'd climbed into the bed beside her again, his arm wrapped around her, her head resting on his shoulder while she napped.
She'd done it. She'd lied to the police and just about everyone else. But maybe, she thought, she really didn't need to keep lying to Darry.
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